Identifying and Advocating Best Practices in the Criminal Justice System. A Texas-Centric Examination of Current Conditions, Reform Initiatives, and Emerging Issues with a Special Emphasis on Capital Punishment.

Monday, 18 March 2013

Florida Legislation at Odds with Editorial Calls for Reform

State Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, wants voters to change
the Florida Constitution to reduce the time death-row inmates have to
appeal their convictions. A second bill would strip the courts of their
authority over post-conviction appeals and give that responsibility to
state legislators.

Gaetz says he wants to end the "gamesmanship"
that has contributed to long appeals, which average 13 years. His
approach may give comfort to those who believe everyone on death row is
guilty as charged, but this ignores the history in Florida and the
nation, where more than 138 people have been released from death row
because they were found to be innocent.

History tells us the death
penalty is applied unfairly, unjustly and arbitrarily. When the
American Bar Association studied Florida's death-penalty system in 2006,
it found too many outcomes were determined by a defendant's wealth. It
said our system is plagued by racial disparities, problems with the
qualifications of defense attorneys and confusion among juries. As one
example, Florida remains one of only two states where you can be
sentenced to death by a majority vote — rather than a unanimous vote —
of the jury. Surely, the imposition of the death sentence should require
a unanimous jury.

Unfortunately, since the ABA released its report seven years ago, little has changed.

In
2000, under then-Gov. Jeb Bush, the Legislature similarly tried to set
strict time limits on death-penalty appeals, but the Florida Supreme
Court said the law was unconstitutional because it infringed on its
rule-making powers in death-penalty cases.

Stoking another separation-of-powers controversy this year won't solve the many problems.

The
best solution, really, would be to end the death penalty and let the
monsters on death row die in prison without the chance of parole. That
way, families would still get closure, society would be rid of them and
we wouldn't waste significant time on a system that costs a lot of money
and provides no deterrent value.

Florida's capital punishment system has a flaw that leads jurors to
deliberate less thoroughly than in other states when deciding whether to
recommend the death penalty. Florida and Alabama are the only two of 32
death penalty states not to require a unanimous jury vote as part of
the sentencing process. Today a vote is expected in the Senate's
Criminal Justice Committee on a bill sponsored by Sen. Thad Altman, a
Melbourne Republican, to require juror unanimity for execution
recommendations and bring Florida into line with other states. Despite
the death penalty's cost and potential for innocent people being
executed, the Florida Legislature isn't likely to abolish it — unlike
Maryland lawmakers, who moved to do so last week. But a bill that pushes
jurors to do their job more carefully and thoughtfully would make the
system less error-prone and should be universally supported.

Altman is right to say a unanimous jury recommendation "will enable
us to have a more effective and accurate system." Florida ranks first in
the nation in the number of inmates who have had death sentences
reversed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Experts who
have seen the way Florida's capital punishment system operates,
including former Florida Supreme Court Justices Raoul Cantero and Harry
Lee Anstead, think juror unanimity is needed. Anstead testified before
the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Altman's bill, saying it would
ensure that the death penalty is reserved for "the worst of the worst"
and help immunize death sentences from appeals and constitutional
challenges.

Some thought Patrick Evans should die for what he did to his
estranged wife and the man he found in her bedroom — shot him in the
neck, then, as she cried for help, pulled the trigger again.

But in a Pinellas County jury room on Nov. 10, 2011, some could not
agree that the murders deserved the death penalty. One woman cried,
remembers juror Quentin Davis. He asked the rest to find out why, and
remembers one man saying he didn't care, that it wouldn't change his
mind.

Some didn't want to share their thoughts, says juror Phyllis McMahon.
"They either weren't talking about it, or would hint maybe life in
prison was okay, or they weren't saying at all. You could tell by body
language, by silence, by facial expression."

So the jurors came up with a solution:

They would put their written votes in a cup.

Out they came: 9-3 for death in the wife's murder, 8-4 for the same in the death of the man.

There was no need for further debate.

They had what they needed.

In Florida, defendants must be found guilty by a unanimous vote,
whether they steal a car or kill. But when it comes to recommending the
ultimate punishment, a simple majority, 7-5, suffices.

This is the only state in America that allows such split juries to
recommend death. And it matters. In 2012, almost two-thirds of the
defendants sent to Florida's death row were ushered there even after
some of the jurors believed they should be spared.

A Republican state senator is trying to pass legislation that would
bring Florida in line with the rest of the nation, in which most states
require a unanimous vote. Juror Davis hopes he succeeds.

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The StandDown Texas Project

The StandDown Texas Project was organized in 2000 to advocate a moratorium on executions and a state-sponsored review of Texas' application of the death penalty.
To stand down is to go off duty temporarily, especially to review safety procedures.

Steve Hall

Project Director Steve Hall was chief of staff to the Attorney General of Texas from 1983-1991; he was an administrator of the Texas Resource Center from 1993-1995. He has worked for the U.S. Congress and several Texas legislators. Hall is a former journalist.